WSU in process of adding OL to 2006 class

BARRY BOLTON

08/07/2006

PUYALLUP'S CHRIS BUSH, who signed with Vanderbilt in February, said this afternoon he's instead headed to the Harvard of the Palouse -- Washington State -- rather than the Yale of Tennessee. Bush told CF.C today that in light of a transcript problem with Vandy, he'll instead make his mark in the Pac-10. He arrives in Pullman this week with the expectation he'll soon receive NCAA clearance.

There are still some transcript issues to clear up, but Bush said he'll be hitting the Rogers Field turf along with the rest of the Cougs before too much longer. The 6-5, 285-pound hoss and onetime Commodore signee, plans on arriving in Pullman Wednesday or Thursday.

By that time, Bush hopes to have received the green light from the NCAA Clearinghouse so he can take the field, but it could take longer than a few days. The Clearinghouse told the Rogers High standout they had not received his SAT, so he recently sent it in again.

"I know I sent it in," said Bush. "I had to re-send them. My SAT is fine, though. On the old (test) I got a 1080 so I'm fine. And My GPA is fine too."

Bush originally signed with Vandy but found out late he fell one-half math credit shy. He talked to his prep coach and was home considering his options that mostly centered around trying to hook up with schools in January for next season when Rogers' coach called him and told him to call the Cougars' Mike Levenseller.

That set in motion a 10 hour whirlwind round trip on Friday.

"I hadn't told anyone about it until about five days ago," said Bush. "I got a call Thursday from coach Bowen telling me coach (Mike) Levenseller wanted me to call. So I called him and he said 'Come out to Pullman, we want to see you'. I said I'd be there tomorrow, on Friday, and then they said they wanted me to play football there."

Bush jumped at the chance to hook up with former Rogers Teammate and friend Brandon Gibson.

"Me and Brandon are good friends," said Bush. "Once I found out I gave him a call. He offered that I could stay at his place that day but I had to drive back home. But Gibson was pretty jacked."

Bush said he'll arrive in Pullman Wednesday or Thursday.

"I'm making the rounds right now, seeing all the family before I leave, I'm actually about to have dinner with my grandparents right now" said Bush.

Bush started at offensive tackle his junior and senior years for Rogers, earning second team All-Conference honors and was named All-Area by the Seattle PI.